Cheat meals are probably the only thing that make your gruelling journey toward weight loss easy. And while your trainer or nutritionist advises you to resist indulging in cheat meals - you know, to avoid packing on those calories all over again - it's easier said than done. After all you do deserve that one treat (or sometimes more) for working so hard at the gym for the entire week. So, we wouldn't entirely blame you for indulging in cheat meals every once in a while. And because we know how important these cheat meals are to keep you motivated in your fitness journey, we spoke to a couple of experts to help you with some healthy cheat meal alternatives that taste the same but have lesser calories. This way, you'll satiate your taste buds, stay motivated to work out and also maintain your weight.

11 healthy cheat meal alternatives you need to try right now

According to Luke Coutinho, expert in Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine for Holistic Nutrition, "Healthy eating is not only about restricting your favorite treats but it's about learning how to eat them in moderation." Coutinho believes that by just swapping certain ingredients such as inflammation-promoting refined oils (that are reheated over and over again) to cold pressed oils that are more thermo-stable, you could not only prepare your cheat meals at home but also ensure that they're way healthier. Anupama Menon, Nutritionist and Food Coach adds that it's important to train your mind and palette. "You need to tune your mind to accept the unadulterated flavor of nascent foods that aren't processed or drenched in heavy fats and sugars." So, check out these 11 expert-approved cheat meal alternatives you need to incorporate in your routine, to help you simultaneously stay satiated and fit.

1. Replace regular pasta with zoodle pasta

Menon recommends zoodle pasta - zucchini spiralized to form zoodles - as a substiture for your regular cheesy pasta. Zoodle pasta is saut?ed with veggies and olive oil, stirred in with cheese and a quarter cup of white sauce. One bowl of this zoodle pasta contains only about 150 kcals while a bowl of your usual cheesy pasta contains approximately 361 kcals. Zoodle pasta is mainly made of zucchini which is high in antioxidants, low in carbs and does not have an overpowering flavor. This makes it a perfect base to absorb and blend in with added flavours and textures.

2. Ditch your regular pizza for whole wheat pizza

Even though pizza may be one of your favorite cheat meals, a single slice of it contains about 272 kcals. Pizza is not only high in calories but is also made of white flour. But if you simply can't do without pizzas in your meals, you could replace the white flour base with whole wheat bread. Some recommended options for toppings include pineapple, meat, sundried tomatoes, olives, pickles or just dollops of salsa. Grill the pizza to crunch and top it with hung curd instead of cheese. So, a whole wheat bread pizza would only contain about 163 kcals.

3. Swap your caramel pudding for chia pudding

Milky desserts are everyone's weakness but a 100 gm of caramel pudding contains about 146 kcals and could hamper your weight-loss goals. But if you really want to satiate your sweet tooth, you could consume the healthier alternative of caramel pudding which is chia pudding. All you need to do is replace your traditional milk with either almond or coconut milk and add chia seeds which are a good source of fiber. This recipe could also be used by people who are lactose intolerant and the fiber in chia seeds will help regulate insulin levels better than a sugar-laden snack. 100 gm of chia pudding desert only contains about 106 kcals.

4. Skip dry fruits and consume fox nuts

You've probably heard that snacking on dry fruits such as almonds and walnuts could reduce your appetite to eat unhealthy food by keeping you full. While dry fruits are definitely a healthy snack option, just half a cup of mixed dry fruits contains about 160 kcals. Fox nuts, on the other hand, are lighter, equally crunchy and can even be saut?ed to satisfaction in just a tsp of ghee or olive oil. According to Menon, half a cup of fox nuts only contains about 85 kcals since it is rich in minerals like iron, potassium and zinc.

5. Replace potato chips with zucchini chips

Potato chips are by far the most tempting snack you could munch on but they're also the most unhealthy since they're deep fried. 50 gm of potato chips contains 268 kcals which could ruin your weight loss regime. Whereas zucchini chips are a much healthier cheat meal option since they are baked, can be made really quickly and are dressed in olive oil which can easily blend with flavors of salt and spice. Moreover, 50 gm of zucchini chips contain only eight calories.

6. Try cauliflower rice instead of vegetable biryani

Menon points out that vegetable biryani requires fats such as ghee or oil to prepare and add flavor to it. A mere cup of vegetable biryani could pile on 318 calories. If you're looking for a way to reduce the number of calories in your meal while also retaining the taste, replace cauliflower rice with vegetable biryani. All you need to do to prepare this dish is finely grate cauliflower (to replace the rice) and roast it with ghee as well as other veggies. Add a dash of lemon and cilantro to enhance the flavor of the dish. A cup of cauliflower rice (with cheese and 2 tsps of ghee) only contains about 141 calories.

7. Have frozen banana and peanut butter desert instead of ice-cream

If ice creams are your biggest weakness when it comes to cheat meals, replace the desert with frozen banana and peanut butter. If you consume 200 grams of regular ice cream, you're also consuming 414 calories along with it. But if you consume frozen bananas blended with a small quantity of Greek yogurt and add a tsp of Nutella to it, you'll only consume about 230 calories with every 200 grams of serving.

8. Have green moong dal pakoras instead of regular pakoras

Pakoras could be a really tempting snack especially when fried and served hot during the monsoon. But if you want to consume a healthier alternative, Coutinho encourages you to try green moong dal pakoras next time. To prepare the dish, you have to soak the green moong dal overnight, rinse the dal next morning and keep it for drying followed by dry grinding it with ginger, garlic, coriander, asafoetida, turmeric and onions. Next, add 2 tsps of sattu powder to it, roll it into balls with your fingers and shallow fry it on a skillet with some cold pressed coconut oil. You could also add chopped spinach and fenugreek leaves to the mixture.

9. Have sourdough burger mixed with bean tikki

Coutinho explains that most burgers are made of refined wheat and have fillings that have been deep fried in refined oils, have little or no vegetables inside and slathered with cheese and mayonnaise that are extremely inflammatory. Coutinho reommends a healthier version of burgers, "Sourdough bread slices that has tikki/cutlet made out of mixed beans (kidney bean, garbanzo beans, black beans), veggies like tomato, cucumber, onion slices and hung curd dip in between." He says that this dish is not only easier to digest but is also balanced with the required nutrients since its high on fibre and vegetarian protein. "Sourdough bread being pre-digested because of fermentation is great for diabetics too," he adds.

10. Prepare Pav Bhaji with mixed veggie mash

Pav bhaji, one of the most popular street food can very easily be turned into a healthy dish by adding more nutrition to it, according to Coutinho. Generally pav bhaji merely contains potatoes, butter and colouring agents to make it look attractive. This is then eaten with white bread. Instead, a variety of vegetables like peas, tomatoes, pumpkin, sweet potato, beetroot, bottle gourd as well as mashed boiled sprouts can be added to the bhaji to make it more balanced and nutritious. Swap white bread for sourdough bread or a simple whole grain paratha to make it a completely healthy cheat meal alternative.

11. Eat healthy nachos instead of with tortilla

A plate of nachos with tortilla isn't a big deal when you're binging on this delicious cheat meal while watching your favourite Netflix show. But just one plate of nachos with tortilla contains approximately 445 kcals, according to Menon. But a replacement for this could be a healthy nacho plate of tortilla chips with baked sweet potato chips. These are easy to make, requires just a little olive oil saut?ing and mild grilling to roast to perfection. These can be topped with a mix of grated and finely cut veggies, salsa, hung curds, moderate shreds of cheese and either beans or mince-meat and just a plate of it would contain only about 255 kcals.